Page 38 of This Shattered Star

“And you’ll be able to hold them off on your own?”

Brannon merely scoffed, as though the question in itself was an insult.

The two men made it across the platform in one piece despite the wounds they’d amassed from the waist down. They were peppered with blood, but they’d survived. I held my breath while they used that same air magic to glide across the yawning gap, and simultaneously reached for the orb. Only for that same breath to wheeze out of my lungs as theyvanished.Transported somewhere else entirely by its magic.

Howling with rage, the beasts charged for the orb as well, only to snap backwards, as if pulled on by a tight leash.

“It’s now or never,” Brannon urged, and the four of us stepped forward, careful not to catch onto any metal. Already the tip of my boot nearly snagged a smaller blade concealed by the mist.

Fear—and a few cuts to the legs, would hurt less than death.

Brannon led the front, palms outstretched, his magic a steady circle around us. Theia pressed closely to my side, and Kodhan held his ground right behind us, his fire lighting the way ahead. He held out both hands now, the tall flames billowing back and forth like flags where they brushed against Brannon’s wall of wind.

Noses to the air, the beasts turned.

And were upon us in less than a second.

Brannon’s arms shook with the force of their attacks. It couldn’t be easy, constantly expelling the beasts all whilerepairing fissures they wrought to his invisible shield. “For snappy clouds, they’re certainly strong,” he grunted.

But despite being outnumbered six to one, he held fast.

Miraculously, we reached the three-quarter mark without any cuts or scrapes, the glow of the orb burning brighter with each step. Three other competitors charged onto the platform already, believing the beasts distracted. But they wouldn’t be fooled twice. Two of them broke off in pursuit. Hunting an opportunity for potentially weaker prey.

No, not in pursuit.As a distraction.

It happened in an instant.

A short, surprised intake of breath.

A shout of warning.

Too slowly, I turned my head. Several rows of teeth snapped inches away from my face.

Rough hands shoved me,hard. Blades reached for my vital organs at an alarming speed.

Death beckoned with skeletal fingers. Like hoarfrost on a windowpane, it ran those bony hands across my skin, chilling my every nerve until I was nothing but a husk of ice.

No.

I gripped the hands of death. Dared it to come closer. Kodhan’s magic burned bright and true, and yet I saw nothing at all. Darkness, cold and unfeeling, becameeverything. Became me.

We shared breath, until we were one and the same.No.Not yet.

Skin tore. Blood gushed in a steady river.

Not. Yet.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Sometimes, Gideon and I spent days on the same maneuver until I finally got it right. If I couldn’t grasp a specific movement the way he wanted me to, he would keep me in the training room until I lost consciousness. A particular angle to a very precise punch to the gut. A certain twist one must perform on a finger to break it irreparably. Where to hit critical joints and exactly hownotto get hit in said critical joints.

All of it, Ihadto learn. No matter the cost.

But there was one thing we went over the most. One lesson that took months and months for me to perfect. He’d yelled, I’d cried. I’d swung at him on several occasions. He’d swung back. I ruined many shoes by heaving half-eaten lunches onto them. He made sure to hammer one lesson into me like iron.

How to stay on my feet, no matter the circumstance.

I couldn’t brace my fall with my hands—they’d end up impaled. The only other option was to use parts of me that could handle damage without making it fatal.